Monday, January 16, 2012

Mini-Him is just nine years old. Aside from adventurous acrobatics and needing to spend a little too much time on the computer/TV, he's basically a sweet natured child.

Which is why, when I browsed through google's formidable links on signs of head injury, (Mini-him bumped his head some time ago, he's been okay...just being extra cautious) and stumbled across the term, parental abuse, I was a little shocked.

Most of the parents truly believed that they were doing their best and were, without exception, shocked in the first instance, and never reported it, in the hope that such instances wouldn't repeat themselves. Which of course, they did, many times over.

pic credit - photostock; freedigitalphotos.net

I searched deep within myself, trying to imagine a response should such an unthinkable event occur with Mini-Him or "on the way Mini-Baby". And while it will never be my intention to unload my problems on the rest of society, I doubt Him and I can or should deal with it alone. My first thought was that I would call the police. And let them do what they will, until the child can acknowledge an issue and agree to some sane counseling. I would definitely need distance. I would need an abusive anyone FAR AWAY from me. No matter who.

And of course, my poor child's done nothing to deserve such suspicion. But I am sitting a little stunned and very disturbed that there is a generation without thought of self-control and limits. Without thought of responsibility or even a basic connection to their roots.

There appear to be crisis hotlines for parents. But nothing as definitive as child abuse hotlines. Nothing that will take the child and have him/her in detention for enough time to make a difference(girls were right up there, with the boys, getting physical with their parents and threatening them!).

But then again, we seem to need the most protection from ourselves. How can governments contribute to sane upbringing too? How many crisis hotlines and organizations are we going to have, when basic sanity and responsibility is lacking sorely?

Most parents who wrote in to the various websites seemed like hard working people who sought to give their children a better life. How does pulling a laptop away from a child warrant a punch from the child?

Why do I stumble across this stuff? I wish I didn't. Ignorance is just total bliss, most of the time. Now I have to watch out for "just one more thing".

Have you all heard of these things?! What do the parents do? Do they just take it and keep being parents until the light dawns on the kids? Do they refuse to acknowledge the children? Do they fight back?